A lifesaving lift to safety

For Alexandra's suspected spinal injury, the team training as pool lifeguards had to work very carefully together to get her out of the water. Almal, Anthony, Carrie-Ann, Danielle, Jamie and Joe all know that a false move could paralyse her for life.

Fortunately, Alexandra was only involved in roleplay as part of our 12 week intensive RLSS National Pool Lifeguard Award Seventh Edition course.

With instruction in both the classroom and the college swimming pool, the course is preparing us for every eventuality, and we each take it in turns to be the 'victim', trusting the others to 'save' us under the careful eye and instruction of our tutor.

Alexandra says, "This course is fun because we get to do a lot of swimming and learning First Aid isn't as hard as it looks!"

Food Glorious Food

"My proudest moment was cooking Christmas dinner for 15 people!" admitted 16 year old Alexandra this week.

She is currently studying NVQ Level 1 Food Preparation & Cooking at the college, having been a part of the Junior Chefs Academy since she was 14.

In recognition of her brilliant work, top chef Steve Munkley proudly presented her and 13 other budding young chefs with their very special medals and certificates for having completed a gruelling 10 weeks of the course.

But it wasn't over for them yet. They had to produce a dinner of Curried Beef, Pilaff rice, Vegetable Samosa and Noodles followed by Blackberry and Apple Crumble and Mince Pies with cream, much to the delight of those who didn't take much persuading to eat them.

The awards were presented by Chef Munkley, who is the Chairman of the Craft Guild of Chefs (the UK’s leading Chefs association) and Executive Chef at the prestigious Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, alongside Trevor Nelson the Food Service Training & Development Manager for the Compass Group, one of the sponsors of the course.

“I’m going to carry on to the next level of NVQs and then eventually work in a professional restaurant” beamed Alexandra.